Dialectics and conspiracy

[Paul Mackin]

On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Henry Musikar wrote:

> I've always thought that the safety of ground zero was a joke (see end of 
> GR) as it goes against the bell-curve distribution that I would expect. Any 
> rocket-scientists?

Yes, it sounds like a joke, the point of which being that the aim is so
incredibly inaccurate. There is a slightly puzzling statement in the
middle of all this (p. 425): "Chances are astronomically against a perfect
hit, of course, that is why one is safest at the center of the target
area." No problem with the first half of this run-on sentence but the
second half is an example of superstitious thinking. There are other 
places just as safe--and of course other places a whole lot safer though
perhaps not in view of the action. (The thinking is a bit like someone
taking a true or false test deciding to himself, I think the statement is
true, but since I'm a rather stupid (or unlucky) fellow I'll choose false)
		
                   P.